Common Fitness Mistakes That Slow Down Your Progress – Workouts

Starting your fitness journey is super exciting. However many struggle to reach the results they wanted in the gym. Most of the time this is not about a lack of effort. It’s due to you making simple mistake which will impact results.

By being aware of common mistakes to avoid you can help increase your fitness routine, avoid frustration and bring long term results.

1. Setting unrealistic fitness Goals

This is one of the biggest issues, wanting quicker results from your workouts. Some people will aim to lose large amounts of weight, gain muscle or completely change themselves within weeks.

With unrealistic goals, you can cause frustration and instil unhealthy habbits. Focus on realistic goals, such as going to the gym 3 times per week, walking further or increasing strength.

Small incremental steps will give you much better long term results.

2. Not practising the warm up and cool down.

If you dive straight into hard workouts, you may find that your workouts are less effective. As well as increasing injury risk.

On your warm up do some light exercise for 5-10minutes to prepare your muscles and cardiovascular system. This can be walking, light cycling or dynamic stretching.

Similarly after your workout your cool down will assist your muscles to come back to normal. Light exercise such as walking and stretching will help.

3. Poor form.

Any heavier lifting or increasing the number of reps doesn’t necessarily mean you’re working out efficiently. Your joints and muscles will put extra strain.

Poor form (such as bad posture) when completing squats, pushups or weightlifting can result in less efficiency.

Initial focus should be on correct form. Start with low intensity and then increase resistance on your exercise. If you’re new to workouts a fitness professional will help.

4. Not taking time to rest.

Many people will think they will get quicker results if they work out every single day. However, to see progress you do need rest.

To allow your muscle to recover from tough workouts. If you’re not taking enough rest you may experience constant soreness, getting too tired, lower performance and a higher risk of injury.

Plan in rests days in your weekly routine. If possible ensure you’re sleeping between 7-9 Hours a night. You must be patient with your progress.

5. Eating an unbalanced diet.

Simply working out will not aid all your fitness goals. You must eat well to provide you with energy, aid recovery and general functioning.

If you’re skipping meals, under-eating or following very restrictive diets you may feel tired.

Ensure you’re having a good variety of health foods such as fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, proteins and healthy fats. Ensure you’re drinking enough throughout the day. Especially when working out and sweating.

Your requirements can depend on your age, activity and health conditions.

6. Making comparisons

Comparing your progress to others will cause issues with your motivation. Everyone will have different genetics, fitness levels, times and starting points.

Things shown on social media may look great. However you won’t know how much time and effort occurred.

Don’t make comparisons. Focus on tracking the improvement you’re making. Can your walk for longer? Lift easier? Are you completing exercises with better form?

7. Constantly changing workouts.

It may seem exciting making a new workout every few days. However it can made harder to track progress.

You’ll need to maintain with your workouts to see improvements in strength, stamina and co-ordination. Ensure you’re on a plan for a number of weeks. Ensure you’re incrementally increasing difficulty.

Of course this does not mean you need to ignore any pain.

Conclusion.

Your progress in fitness does not come down to how hard you work out in 1 day. It comes from maintaining, correct form, eating healthily, enough rest and realistic expectations.

Learning to avoid these mistakes will help you build healthier habbits. Be patient with yourself. Celebrate any improvements and remember long term fitness is long term!